Fast track for apprentices

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MOTOR apprentices will be able to shorten their training under a
deal struck between unions and employers to ease a critical skills
shortage.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, 3500 apprentices,
including panel beaters and motor mechanics, will skip their first
year if they have relevant VCE or TAFE training.

Premier Steve Bracks said 27,000 people were employed in
Victoria's $10 billion-a-year automotive industry and the scheme
would help attract more apprentices. The industry is one of many in
Australia facing dire skills shortages.

The State Government brokered the agreement between the
Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce and the Australian
Manufacturing Workers Union.

Education and Training Minister Lynne Kosky said
pre-apprenticeships would benefit the industry, students and the
economy.

Many people would serve three-year apprenticeships instead of
four  entering the workforce on a higher salary and gaining
recognition for existing skills and training, she said.

The union's vehicle division federal secretary, Ian Jones, said
the program would help solve an industry crisis. "Some trades are
about to go out of business altogether because the TAFES have so
few students they can't keep running the courses," Mr Jones
said.